Brian Close was expected to be captain but, after his alleged time-wasting
in the Warwickshire v Yorkshire county match
at Edgbaston, M.C.C. ruled him out of the tour on 21 August. The Chairman of
Selectors admitted that Close would have been skipper but for this incident,
so Cowdrey became captain by default.

He viewed the West Indies tour as the beginning of a campaign challenging,
firstly, West Indies on their home pitches, then Australia
at home and away, and finally South
Africa, also twice. However, the captain
could never have foreseen how being deprived of so many key players would wreck
his planning. On this tour Fred Titmus lost four toes in a boating accident.

West Indies had the
best all-round cricket team in the world but the first three Test matches
were drawn. The first at Bridgetown England might
have won. West Indies fell just short of the
follow-on target and, when Dave Brown took three wickets in an over just
before tea, were 180-8 but held out for a draw.

It was England’s
turn to hold out for a draw at Kingston,
having made all the running when Snow’s fast bowling forced West
Indies to follow on again and then lose five wickets with an
innings’ defeat still in sight. A crowd disturbance, and the police response
with tear gas, interrupted England
when they were on top and next day, set 158 to win, England collapsed
to 68-8.

Another draw followed at Bridgetown
before Sobers, in an optimistic gamble, declared at Port
of Spain, thinking he could spin England out before they could
score 215 on the last afternoon of the 4th Test.England won with three minutes to
spare, and then got away with a tense draw in the final Test to take the
rubber one-nil and win the Wisden Trophy for the first time.

Finger-spinner brought his aggressive attacking approach from Australia -
as well as making his highest score in Tests

Tony
Lock, now a Western Australia
player, was called in to the side for Fred
Titmus who lost four toes of his left foot in a boating accident before
the Barbados
match. Lock arrived on the penultimate day of the third Test.

Titmus left for London
on Thursday 7 March. Tom Graveney took over the vice-captaincy.

Fixtures/Results

a

ϯ Bridgetown

Barbados Colts (2-day)

Drawn

b

Bridgetown

WI Board President's XI

Drawn

c

Port
of Spain

Trinidad & Tobago

Drawn

d

ϯ Pointe-a-Pierre

Trinidad Colts (2-day)

Drawn

e

PORT OF SPAIN

WEST INDIESFirst Test

DRAWN

f

ϯ Montego Bay

Jamaica Colts (2-day)

Drawn

g

Kingston

Jamaica

Won 174 r

h

KINGSTON

WEST INDIESSecond Test

DRAWN

i

St
John’s

Leeward
Islands

Drawn

j

Bridgetown

Barbados

Drawn

k

BRIDGETOWN

WEST INDIESThird Test

DRAWN

l

Castries

Windward
Islands

Drawn (rain)

m

PORT OF SPAIN

WEST INDIESFourth Test

WON 7
w

n

Georgetown

Guyana

Won 10 w

o

ϯ Georgetown

Guyana Colts (reduced
by weather to 1-day)

Won 6 w

p

GEORGETOWN

WEST INDIESFifth Test

DRAWN

† not first-class

Time spent in West Indies
before First Test:

23 days

(27 December - 19 January)

Test
appearances on tour

(v West Indies 1967-68)

5 -Barrington, Boycott, Cowdrey, D'Oliveira, Edrich, Graveney, Jones.

4 -Brown, Snow.

3 -Parks.

2 -Knott, Lock, Pocock, Titmus.

1 -Hobbs.

0 -Higgs, Milburn.

Match
appearances

TTest match

x other match

W wonL lostD drawn

Ttied

N no resultA
abandoned

u unknown
result

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

K F Barrington

x

x

x

T

x

T

x

x

T

x

T

x

T

G Boycott

x

x

x

T

x

T

x

x

T

x

T

x

T

D J Brown

x

x

T

T

T

x

T

x

M C Cowdrey

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

x

T

x

T

B L D'Oliveira

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

x

x

T

T

x

x

T

J H Edrich

x

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

x

T

T

x

T

T W
Graveney

x

x

x

T

x

T

x

x

T

T

x

x

T

K Higgs

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

R N S
Hobbs

x

x

T

x

x

x

x

x

I J Jones

x

x

T

T

x

T

x

T

x

T

A P E Knott

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

G A R Lock

x

T

x

T

C Milburn

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

J M Parks

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

x

T

x

x

P I Pocock

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

T

x

x

T

J A Snow

x

x

x

x

T

x

T

T

x

T

F J Titmus

x

x

x

T

T

x

R E S U L T S

D

D

D

D

D

D

W

D

D

D

D

D

W

W

W

D

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•England began
with the series with a total of 568 including centuries from Ken Barrington
(143) and Tom Graveney (118). Barrington
typically reached his century with a six.

•West Indies
were forced to follow on and slumped to 180-8 when Brown took three wickets
in an over but held out for an eventual draw.

•Colin Cowdrey (101) and John Edrich (96)
scored 129 together for the 2nd wicket at Kingston.

•John Snow’s 7 for 49 at Kingston
forced West Indies to follow on for the
second match in succession

•England
responded to Gary Sobers’ declaration at Port of Spain by winning with three minutes
to spare.

•Tony Lock who had his debut in 1952, made
his highest score (89) at Georgetown in his
final match for England

•Geoff Boycott topped 1200 runs in all
matches for the tour.

Tour
Summary

F

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

5

1

0

4

-

Other first-class matches

7

2

0

5

-

†Minor matches

4

1

0

3

-

All Matches

16

4

0

12

-

FFixturesWWonL LostD DrawnT TiedCanc CancelledAbanabandoned

Return
to England

GeorgetownQLondon

After the final Test at Bourda a crowd attacked the M.C.C. team
as their bus left the ground. Tony Lock was hit by a stone, and the police
had to escort them to their hotel.

The team flew out of Atkinson Air Field, 30 miles from Georgetown, to Bridgetown
the next day, 4 April, and landed at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday 5 April, Cowdrey
bringing the Wisden Trophy with him. Gary Sobers, who would be playing for
Nottinghamshire in 1968 was on the same plane.

Time away from England

100 days

(27
December - 5 April 1968)

Finances

Accounts
of the tour

"In the Main" by J S Barker (Pelham, 1968)

"The M.C.C. Tour of West Indies 1968” by Brian Close (Stanley Paul,
1968)